Is H-E-B and Joe V’s delivery worth the fee? The meat and produce savings say yes

Those of us who want to shop at H-E-B but don’t live anywhere near one have a new option – but, given that this is H-E-B we’re talking about, the option comes with some caveats.

H-E-B offers a delivery option within about an 8-mile radius (it varies by store), as does Joe V’s, the chain’s price-focused brand. Since H-E-B avoids Dallas (for now) in a way that feels personal, for this experiment we went with a Joe V’s in East Dallas about 5 miles away. However, if you live closer to an H-E-B, for a $5 fee, you can get H-E-B pricing without actually having to go to a store or suffer through a third-party service like Instacart. The bad news? Selection can be limited; distance restricts store options; and delivery isn’t always as well executed as Amazon.

Pricing

Having said all that, it’s still H-E-B, and that means mostly better pricing and better quality, as well as H-E-B service.

The other caveat in all of this is that comparing grocery prices is neither art nor science; supermarket chains are notorious for their pricing mysteries, in which the same item can have three different prices in three different weeks and can cost one-third less at one chain for no particular reason. Meanwhile, store coupons and loyalty programs add yet another layer of complexity, and what seems like a terrific deal to one person – $1.99 for a giant bag of chips – doesn’t mean much to someone who doesn’t eat chips.

Side-by-side comparison

We compared online delivery prices at Joe V’s, which is about $5 for the basic delivery, to other major retailers. The biggest finds? Beef and pork at mostly pre-inflation prices with very little sign of the price-hikes-for-price-hikes’ sake so common elsewhere.

Beef and pork ribs

• Beef ribs, rarely seen at even high-end grocers, were $4.33 a pound at Joe V’s. Kroger was twice that.
• Bone-in country-style pork ribs – yes, with a real bone in each rib and more meat than fat – were $1.77 a pound, compared to Kroger’s sale price of $2.99 a pound.

Just the savings on the pork ribs – let alone the quality – practically paid for the delivery fee and tip.

Produce

The produce prices were equally as impressive:

• Green bell peppers were 33 cents, which are as much as $1 elsewhere.
• Limes for 16 cents each, about half the price of other stores.
• Cilantro was 36 cents a bunch; cucumbers were 33 cents; and avocados were 25 cents.
• Fideo is about two-thirds the price of other stores.
• A half gallon of 2% milk was just $1.60; Kroger’s prices run as high as $2.50 for a half gallon.

The catch?

Don’t expect to see many national brands on the shelves (or online), at least from Joe V’s. Plus the prices for those national brands are usually higher (though, for some bizarre reason, the 20-ounce French’s yellow mustard was half that of Kroger). Meanwhile, non-food items weren’t much cheaper than elsewhere, and the section was also limited, while deli and prepared foods (rotisserie chicken and the like) were also limited.

Finally, the delivery came in the trunk of the driver’s car; none of those refrigerated H-E-B vans seen on the commercials. So the ice cream was a tad soft when it arrived.

Nevertheless, I’ll do this again. And why not? How often do we see savings like this anymore?